Currently, the routing of a container holding inventory items through distribution center material handling systems is performed using static predetermined configuration data. Static configuration data for the distribution center material handling systems is created at some initial time, and this static configuration data is then used to make routing decisions that control how containers move through the distribution center material handling systems. Because the configuration data is static, the path from one place in the distribution center material handling system to another place in the distribution center material handling system is predefined. These predefined routes based on static configuration data are not necessarily optimized routes from one place to another. Moreover, these predefined routes cannot dynamically adjust for congestion in the material handling systems, and cannot dynamically adjust when a failure condition in a piece of material handling equipment in the material handling systems occurs.